


You're My Favourite Game

by FunkyinFishnet



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: F/F, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Injury Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:55:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22038163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FunkyinFishnet/pseuds/FunkyinFishnet
Summary: When Tegan's knee is destroyed by someone they all trusted and she's forced back home, Rhea is furious, not just because she's team captain. She's gotten used to her team and used to Tegan. She wants more of Tegan's accent too.
Relationships: Rhea Ripley/Tegan Nox
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	You're My Favourite Game

**Author's Note:**

> Set at and after NXT Takeover: War Games 2019.

After the War Games victory, savouring Shayna’s look of shocked fury, Rhea heads straight for the medics room. It takes her a couple of moments to realise Candice is still with her, she’s not looking at Rhea or trying to start conversation and, Rhea does a quick visual check, she isn’t limping or holding herself up.

It’s early enough in the night that the medics room is empty apart from Tegan, who’s sat on a medics bench. She’s got three people working on her, treating her knee with efficient care and she’s quietly hissing out pain and got a towel in a death grip at her chin. Her eyes are wet but she’s not screaming or wailing when she has every fucking right to. She got really screamy back when Rhea destroyed her knee. And this is Tegan’s third time dealing with this, though it's the first knee wrecked by her bestie. Rhea’s jaw tenses, and she stays back as the medics ask Tegan questions and talk about needing an x-ray to be sure. Tegan’s breathing hitches hard then and something like a quiet sob escapes.

Rhea’s a few steps closer now, she doesn’t think Tegan even sees her, but she sees Candice who’s wrangled her way to Tegan’s shoulder. She whispers a quiet ‘hey’ and Tegan doesn’t startle, she doesn’t flinch either when Candice rubs her back and stays close. Even after her best buddy turned into a raging bitch, Tegan isn’t flinching from her other friends. It’s stupid, stubborn and brave.

Rhea watches, eyes fixed on how the medics handle Tegan, jaw tensing harder whenever Tegan’s hisses get loud. Finally, they’re done, saying an ambulance has been called and they’re going to wait for it. Candice wraps an arm around Tegan and Tegan now lets some tears fall. Rhea shifts her weight from foot to foot but doesn’t leave, not until Tegan gets off to the hospital. There’s no telling what Dakota’s deranged rage might bring next.

Tegan’s knuckling away tears when her eyes widen as they settle on Rhea. So she hadn’t noticed before. Rhea lifts her chin in greeting, eyes fixed on Tegan’s face. She still isn’t sobbing, though she has to be fucked up and fucked off. Under her anger and raw concern, Rhea is impressed.

“We won,” she tells Tegan, because Tegan should know, Dakota didn’t win everything tonight.

Tegan’s eyes light up and she looks at Candice who nods with pride and that bright smile, saying, “You’re looking at the winners of the first ever Women’s War Games.”

“You guys beat all of them by yourselves.”

Tegan doesn’t sound shocked or even surprised, Rhea notes, she’s stating it with awe and pride. Rhea smirks, jaw loosening, “Shayna thought she had me in her Clutch.”

“You got out? How?!”

Rhea releases the handcuffs from where they’re looped at her waist band, for safekeeping, and holds them up, “She got me, I got **her** cuffed and pinned.”

Tegan laughs, definitely the happiest she’s been all night. Rhea’s smirk grows, she’ll take all the victories. She won War Games and Tegan isn’t broken. The medics come back then and get Tegan into a wheelchair for transport. Tegan’s face ripples with pain though and Rhea barks, “Careful!”

It gets her a few looks but she sticks with them, walking out to the ambulance as Tegan is wheeled up and transferred in. Candice says her goodbyes, squeezing Tegan’s hand and hugging her warmly.

“Keep me updated, okay? I want to know exactly how you are.”

Rhea nods along, yeah. Tegan looks at her as Candice falls back and Rhea leans in to extend a fist, “We won tonight.”

Tegan shakes her head, eyes pained and bright, “I didn’t do any winning.”

“We won,” Rhea repeats firmly, fist still extended. “She didn’t get that as well.”

Dakota attacked a team member and took herself out of the match, she doesn’t get to share this. Tegan bumps her fist against Rhea’s, her eyes less pained now maybe, “I’ll call you.”

She looks at both Candice and Rhea as she says it. Rhea holds her gaze until the ambulance doors close, then she watches as it pulls away.

“Good job, captain,” is the first thing Candice says.

She doesn’t sound sarcastic, Rhea looks at her sharply. No, no sarcasm. “You too.”

Candice smiles, her excitement back, brightening up her whole face.“You want to get dinner?”

Rhea doesn’t say no, her thoughts have just flipped to how Candice’s husband was injured by someone he thought was a friend (a trend for him), now the same thing’s happened to Tegan. But Candice didn’t let that affect her when she was checking on Tegan.

Dinner with the team has happened a lot over the past month. It’s been practical – Shayna and her buddies like to isolate and attack from behind so strength in numbers is an obvious idea - and Rhea's had worse dinners. Candice already has her phone out.

“Mia didn’t need the hospital so she’s coming too,” Candice tells Rhea.

Rhea nods, more tension unlocking inside of her. Mia never got her chance at beating the shit out of Shayna and friends, as Dakota decided Mia was the one to be taken out so she could get in and destroy her best friend. They’re fucking lucky only Tegan’s had to take an ambulance ride tonight. It should be Dakota.

Fists clenched, Rhea states tersely, “I’m seeing Regal, then we get dinner.”

Candice doesn’t stop her.

///

The meeting with Regal doesn’t take long. He’s more righteously furious that Dakota tried to ruin the War Games match by destroying a member of Regal’s roster than how good she got him in the face. He might end up with a black eye but he ignores that and reassures Rhea that Dakota is no longer in the building but has been escorted home so there’s no way she’ll try to jump Tegan again.

“You should be very proud of what you’ve achieved tonight,” Regal tells her, wearing some pride himself.

Rhea nods, she is, and tucks her hands past the lapels of her gear. “I should get a title shot.”

She pinned the champion. Regal doesn’t argue, “Yes, you do deserve one, if the champion agrees, of course.”

Hmm, yeah, that could be fun. Rhea nods with a satisfied smirk and heads off to get dinner and her team. They’re waiting in the locker room, oh watching her bags. That’s a smart call. Rhea nods and looks Mia up and down.

“You all right?”

Mia nods firmly, “All strapped up and ready to get the fuck out of here.”

Yeah. Rhea goes to shower very quickly and kits out in jeans, a gym shirt and her leather jacket, feet shoved in trainers. They can all get the fuck out of here now. Her bags are untouched still and her phone has a few messages – Tegan saying the x-rays are still to be done but they’re not talking like they were last time she busted a knee. She seems pleased.

Candice smiles when Rhea tucks her phone away, “Some news is good news.”

Candice and Mia travelled all over the country in their pre-WWE days so they know the best places to eat that are still open this late. Rhea lets them lead and wonders how far away the hospital is. It annoys her that she doesn’t know, or how terrible the food might be there.

Rhea, Candice and Mia eat a mountain of Chinese food between them and throw back a lot of sweet tea. Candice swears this place does the best Chinese food on this coast and she might not be wrong. Rhea breaks open a fortune cookie, snorts at the paper slip inside, then dips the cookie in her sweet tea. Tegan always does that.

They don’t stay up too late – it’s Survivor Series tomorrow and Rhea has a second team to captain. She’s got no clue what Io or Biance will be like to lead, if they’ll be as cohesive with Candice and Toni as her War Games team. Toni has been enthusiastic since Rhea recruited her, excited about getting up to the big shows and wanting to show everyone what NXT can do. It hits Rhea as they drive to the hotel; the massive breadth of what Tegan’s missing out on this weekend – not just War Games but Survivor Series too.

In the hotel lobby, Rhea gets another message – x-ray has been done, nothing’s broken. Tegan’ll soon be on her way back to Florida. Rhea punches back a reply about it being good news, her jaw tensing. Tegan should be here, not sent home like she did something wrong. Dakota needs to be punished.

“We need to clear her room,” Candice says suddenly, looking up from her own phone and showing messages to Mia. “She was sharing with Dakota.”

Fuck. Rhea goes straight to reception. She’ll call Mr Regal, she’ll call Hunter if they won’t give her a keycard. But the staff are reasonable and ring a WWE agent about Rhea’s request and get the okay, telling Rhea to let them know when the room can be cleaned. Because Dakota’s been taken back to Florida too, to the apartment she shares with Tegan.

Rhea growls and grips the keycard, not speaking until the three of them are in the elevator alone, “Tegan’s going home, so’s Dakota.”

“Shit, we’ve got room,” Mia puts in easily.

“Us too,” Candice adds. “No one’s in our spare room right now.”

Rhea’s got room too so she messages Tegan with her choices, as long as it’s not the place she shares with Dakota. Johnny’s around so he can help move her, Mia says she can message Tegan about where the spare key is for her apartment, and Rhea can do the same. There’s something happening in Rhea’s again but Tegan says she’ll talk to Johnny. It makes sense, to have someone else around after what she’s been through. Someone she trusts.

Up in Dakota and Tegan’s room, not much is unpacked. Candice hits the bathroom to get Tegan’s products and Mia checks the wardrobe and drawers while Rhea grabs the charger she recognises as Tegan’s and shoes that she brushes the toes of as she packs them away into Tegan’s bag. It’s so tempting to dump all of Dakota’s crap in the trash but Candice gets there first and shoves it into a bag like she can’t stand to look at it, her mouth a hard line. Rhea doesn’t stop her.

Mia and Candice are sharing a room so they take Tegan’s bags there and let reception know that Dakota’s stuff is still in her room for pick up, they’re not going to have anything to do with it. Rhea taps the keycard against her thigh and then straightens. Candice is sliding looks at her phone and Mia’s got bruises under eyes and her back’s starting to bow. She doesn’t need the hospital but she needs sleep. Rhea frowns.

“You rest.”

“Breakfast?” Candice asks, like it’s not really a question because with the other brands in the building, strength in numbers is still the smartest idea.

Rhea nods. When she gets back to her room, as usual not sharing with anyone, she messages Tegan again.

_Candice & Mia have your bags. Rest. _

_You too. NXT needs its captain._

///

Rhea doesn’t know why but when she’s had breakfast the next day with Candice and Mia, she orders a bunch of the sugar almond cookies Tegan always goes on about and gets them delivered to Candice and Johnny’s house with Tegan’s name on. Then it’s onto the gym. Bianca is hitting the weights and while her nod is cool, she isn’t stupid enough to give shit to her new team captain. Toni turns up when Rhea is racking weights and offers to spot her, and Bianca watches, brow furrowed but no sneer in sight. It feels different to working out with Tegan, Candice and Mia. Rhea gets on with it.

She keeps getting on it with all day – there’s team talks and media calls and meet and greets until it’s time for the show itself and she’s checking her phone as she stretches out. There’s a couple of missed calls from Tegan, and a voicemail, that she listens to as she stretches.

“Funny thing, I was visited by the cookie fairy today. She knew my faves. I know it was you, Captain, Candice would have put her name in and Mia’s got her brain full of Dakota. I’m going to eat these as I watch you storm through Survivor Series. Next stop Shayna.”

Rhea’s grinning by the end of the message. She’s never met anyone with an accent like Tegan’s and teasing does fun things with it. She’s thinking about Tegan enjoying the cookies, licking crumbs and chocolate off her lips, right up until it’s time for a team talk and then she thinks about winning at Smackdown beside Tegan and how good Tegan looked in leather.

Rhea blows through the curtain like a storm and doesn’t quiet for a moment.

Two victories in two nights. Rhea can’t stop smiling, she’s got pain all down her right side but it’s a really good fucking feeling. Backstage is the usual victory chaos, yeah Rhea is gonna get used to this. Toni is talking really quickly and Io won’t stop laughing, she’s somehow got her hands on a kendo stick and honestly, she’s starting to look off without one. Bianca is making sure every camera gets her best side as they’re interviewed and then breeze through a photo shoot. Candice shoves up against Rhea and has a phone mashed to her ear.

“Johnny and Tegan are both yelling,” she tells Rhea.

She angles the phone away from her face so Rhea can hear and Rhea’s smile curves differently as she hears Tegan whooping. “She should be here.”

Candice nods, “Oh my God, yes. She’s bionic though, nothing’s going to stop her.”

Rhea totally agrees and she watches as Candice goes back to laughing down the phone at whatever her husband and friend are saying, acting like they’re living the victory too. Rhea allows it.

It’s later, after seeing Shayna win, proving that when she’s not lazy enough to depend on her tagalongs, she’s one of the best, and after getting a drink with Candice and Mia who proves that you can be happy for your brand even when you’re not picked (take fucking note, Dakota), that Rhea gets into the car with Candice for the journey home and listens to a new message Tegan has left her.

“That was AMAZING, Rhea. Oh my fucking God! NXT won Survivor Series, that’s **our** headline. If you don’t get a title shot after this, Regal needs his head looked at.”

She segues into a string of Welsh then before hanging up. Rhea saves the message. She doesn’t have to know the language to enjoy it – Tegan sounded happy and proud and vital, her voice going husky in a couple of places. Rhea rubs an arm.

Candice has the radio playing, the music’s bright and bouncy. Candice doesn’t fire up any conversation, she’s singing to herself like the weekend couldn’t get any better even though she’s covered in bruises after a brutal two nights and driving through the dark to get home for a few hours before work starts again. Rhea relaxes back against the headrest. Candice used to remind Rhea too much of who she used to be, but Candice’s smile means something different now.

When Rhea gets home, there’s a box of protein bars and powders that she didn’t order, all in her favourite flavours. And there’s a package of the same cookies she ordered Tegan. Rhea unpacks her gear and gets it soaking before she looks through the gifts, warmth crawling out of her chest. It’s another victory.

She eats two cookies and thinks again about Tegan’s tongue darting out to catch crumbs as she eats her own gift. Rhea thumbs to Tegan’s number in her phone and calls. She doesn’t answer – Candice will be home by now and answering a million questions from husband and Tegan. So Rhea angles her chin and leaves a message.

“The Cookie Fairies are multiplying. I was almost out of a couple of those powders. Thanks. You’re not getting name dropped in my victory speech though.”

Rhea wishes, probably for the first time, that she spoke another language. She wants to give Tegan the same feeling she got after Tegan’s call.

///

Rhea gets her title match, after Shayna realises the only way to beat Rhea is to employ her girls brigade. Rhea’s sore for days after. A bottle of bath salts gets delivered – it’s mint and it’s a fucking godsend when she’s aching at the end of each day after pushing herself through training and work-outs, focused on that title shot. She’s earned it, it’s hers.

Whenever she tries calling Tegan though, there’s no answer. Tegan has doctor’s appointments and rehab and training and the media and somehow she’s always a few steps to the side. But she returns Rhea’s calls and leaves messages, thanking Rhea for the cookies that keep turning up, and for thinking of Tegan. She curls her words, like she’s thinking of Rhea too. A day without a message from Tegan starts to feel weird.

Dakota keeps waving around Tegan’s twisted knee brace. She cuts up Candice with it but Mia’s got plans and asks for Rhea’s help. Rhea agrees with relish – she loves watching Mia knock stitches into Dakota. At least Dakota’s not focusing on Tegan anymore. Candice and Mia turn up for the work outs they always used to do with Rhea back when they were a team, they get lunch or breakfast together a few times a week. A week without that becomes weird too.

The night of the title fight, Rhea warms up with Candice and Mia. They’re focused on her beating Shayna; Mia swears she knows Dakota’s there but she’s going to keep her busy and far away from the match.

“She’ll need that knee brace herself.”

“I’m coming for the belt after you win,” Candice tells Rhea.

She’s smiling and she means it. Rhea shrugs, “Earn it first.”

Candice grins and holds pads up for Rhea to hit. Rhea isn’t going to hand out title shots as favours. Candice has only recently got focus back on her own career and when she’s not fighting off Dakota, she’ll be a hard opponent. Rhea’s looking forward to it.

It’s just before the match that Rhea hears that Welsh accent and there’s Tegan, standing by the backstage monitors, wearing jeans and a tight white shirt that shows off her tan and how bright her eyes are. She’s definitely favouring one leg, even just standing there.

“It’s the Cookie Fairy,” Rhea states, distracted for the first time all day.

She’s close enough to feel Tegan’s body heat. Tegan smiles, “Oh, I was happy to return the favour. Has there ever been a nightmare fairy?”

Rhea smirks and looks Tegan up and down thoroughly, “How’s the knee?”

“Wobbly, but I’ve had worse.”

Yeah, **Rhea’s** done worse to her but Tegan’s not saying anything pointed, it’s only a fact. Rhea nods, “You’ve got a return date?”

“I could have.”

The crowd’s building up noise now, there’s a video package airing about Rhea’s title fight. She kisses Tegan, the crowd roaring in her ears. She tastes chocolate and coconut and feels how warm Tegan’s arms are through Rhea’s leather gear. She takes Tegan’s weight easy and Tegan trusts her to do it.

“You will,” Rhea tells her, as their mouths part.

Tegan runs a thumb over Rhea’s right cheekbone and kisses her quickly, like she wants the final say. Her other hand fiddles with Rhea’s belt, “Aw, where’re your handcuffs?”

Rhea’s eyes darken and she gets her hands on Tegan’s arse, enjoying Tegan’s breath stuttering with a half-audible curse that could be Welsh. Rhea mentally reorganises how she’ll be celebrating tonight. “They’re for special occasions.”

Tegan’s smirking now, “You saying I’m not special?”

She doesn’t give Rhea a chance to answer, pushing her shoulder pointedly because the video package has finished and Rhea’s out first. Rhea eases back, wanting to meet her music before the song gets too far ahead. Doesn’t mean she wants to stop looking at Tegan though.

When she finally turns back towards the curtain, Tegan calls after her, “And I want a title shot!”

Rhea smirks, her music echoing the charge in her veins, “Earn it.”

_-the end_


End file.
